With the Clippers down 12 early in the fourth quarter, DeAndre Jordan scored 8 points on 4 for 4 from the free throw line, a put back layup and a dunk as part of a Clippers 10-2 run to cut the lead to 4. Scotty Brooks called a time out and the Clippers looked like, suddenly, they were going to accomplish a rare feat: coming back from double digit deficit on the road to beat not just a playoff team but a top team in the conference.

Even when the Clippers completely fumbled, they came back. They endured a stretch where even though the small ball lineup forced a turnover on Durant, with Craig Smith coming up with the steal, Smith couldn’t make the layup at the other end, sparking a mini collapse for the Clippers. Westbrook found Collison for an easy layup, Gordon was called for a charge, Kaman missed a free throw, Blake touch-fouled Ibaka who made both free throws and Eric Gordon had one of the laziest passes that Westbrook easily swiped and the Clippers all while ignoring Blake Griffin who, up until the fourth quarter, had been on fire (30 points and 10 rebounds through three quarters). The Clippers were now down 9 with less than 6 minutes left, and yet, they still came back.

Even with Kaman missing another three free throws, the Clippers cut a the lead down to 2 points and it could have been even less had Blake made both of his free throws or slammed the ball when Ibaka fouled him. Both Mo and Eric made tough threes down the stretch and even showed some promise (and some more screw ups) by VDN.

The Clippers had two beautifully functional inbounds plays down the stretch that completely fooled the Thunder. The first earned Blake the free throws that he would eventually make 1 for 2. Eric Gordon inbounded the ball to Blake, with the impression that there would be a hand off back to Eric and he would have a three at the top of the key, except that Blake faked the hand off, letting both the defenders sag over to Eric and completely opened up the lane.

Some might be upset that Blake didn’t try to use the contact and go for a smarter bucket and the foul, but I have a hard time blaming a player for going hard to the rim. And he was so close to pulling it off. There is no guarantee that had Blake gone for the layup that he might have made it, after all, he was swiped across the face.

The second inbounds play went to Blake who, instead of taking it himself (like the last play) or looking for one of the Clippers three guards (Mo, Eric and Randy) on the wing, he found a streaking Craig Smith for an easy layup. Neither play was fancy, just used clever misdirection and simple passes with Blake at the fulcrum of the play. Blake needs to be the fulcrum of the offense because not only is he one of the best scorers, but he is the best passer and makes the best decisions on the team.

But the Clippers weren’t even one sided down the stretch, Vinny came up with some great defense on the inbounds plays for the Thunder. The Clippers completely swarmed Kevin Durant by switching Blake onto Durant and doubling off every screen for every possession, almost forcing the Thunder into two turnovers by knocking the ball out of bounds and then forcing the inbounder to call a timeout, thus wasting the Thunder’s last time out. Even when Durant did finally get the ball, it wasn’t for lack of planning, because the Clips fought through every screen on those repeated inbounds plays.

What was the most disheartening coaching sequence, was the inbounds after Craig Smith’s layup (the great inbounds play). Both Randy Foye and Craig Smith pressured the inbounds pass, only that left Thabo Sefalosha completely open to take the pass and then, because no Clipper surrounded him, he easily passed it up to the cherry picking Russell Westbrook who jammed the ball home, ending the game.

As good as those offensive plays were, the failed trapping was just as bad, if not worse because of the ease at which the Thunder broke the press. While the side-inbounds play was aggressively defended, the Thunder just simply finished the Clippers off without much of a fight on the play.

On the whole, the effort was way more than encouraging, and even the execution was impressive. The Clippers walked into OKC and expected to win. And while losing to the Thunder now doesn’t have any serious effects, this year is pretty much just a training exercise, there will be a time when these efforts will no longer be considered encouraging but wasted.

Lots of highlights and then Notes:

Blake Griffin, from whatever measure you want to use, actua play, highlights, box score, or cheers was the absolute center of attention. He scored 35 points on 15 for 20 (!) shooting, yanked down 11 rebounds and notched 6 assists with an enormous block in the fourth quarter (when he looked like he tweaked an ankle but kept playing). He was just everywhere. And to top it off, that was his 61st double double of the year, the most by a rookie since the NBA/ABA merger. More than David Robinson, more than Hakeem, more than Tim Duncan or KG or, even, Shaquille O’Neal. Huge accomplishment.

VDN went with the three guard lineup down the stretch again to mixed results. Randy Foye played the third guard despite not making a single shot until the fourth quarter (1 for 6 for the game), however, magically, he played great defense on Kevin Durant (29 points on 9 for 23 shooting). He was part of the three guard squad that kept Durant from making a field goal at the end of the second quarter (KD went 0 for 4 in the second), and when KD came back in the fourth, he forced KD into 2 for 6 shooting, 3 for 4 from the line and a potentially costly turnover. I still don’t know how that defense works, but it does. If Foye would have been as effective on the offensive end, the Clippers probably would have pulled out a win.

More weirdness that is Randy Foye. When he came in the second quarter, before Durant returned to play, the Thunder went on a viciously quick 15-4 run and swung the game around. So he can guard the toughest scorer, who has a 6 inches on him and a high shot and yet he can’t guard James Harden or Daequan Cook? I don’t understand Randy Foye.

Despite Kaman’s poor free throw line performance, I thought the center platoon did very well. Kaman shot 5 for 12, pretty normal for him, but he was as active as he has ever been on defense. Those six blocks he had tonight didn’t come cheap. And yet DeAndre popped into the second unit and played perfectly in his 10 minutes, scoring 10 points on 3 for 3 shooting from the field and a miraculous 4 for 4 from the line while grabbing 8 rebounds and blocking a shot. Let’s revisit, that was all in ten minutes of play. Loved the energy from DeAndre and he probably would have earned more minutes if the Clippers didn’t need Kaman’s floor spacing to prevent Perk from helping out Ibaka to double team Blake.

Small forward continues to be an issue. Jamario had some nice stops on Durant (he even forced Durant into shooting one off the side of the backboard) but those moments were fleeting as Durant proceeded to catch fire. Aminu played uninspired and I’m worried about VDN being able to reach Aminu. Not only has there not been much development in his game, but Aminu doesn’t seem to be having the same fun he did earlier in the season. Randy Foye isn’t a long term solution at SF.

Mo Williams struggled defensively, but he ran the offense really well. He sublimated his game to improve Blake’s hot start (some really good alley-oops to Blake) and when he did take shots he made them at a high percentage, even having a huge three at the end of the game. He’s made some big shots in his tenure with the Clippers and I think he’ll be of help through next year, unless Eric Bledsoe makes a gigantic leap forward.

Speaking of Bledsoe, he looks good at times and bad at others. The most concise example of both was when he flew in for an offensive rebound in the dying moments of the third quarter, and then, with a couple of seconds left, launched up an airball. Had he been just slightly more aware and patient, he could have put up a much better shot.

can’t wait for next season to start already, i wonder how much we’ll change this roster…

joeluis

Not much change. The starting line up will prob be the same with one exception…. Gomes.. he’s got to GO!

RAM

It was a great game. disapointed that Kaman is starting over Jordan. I think Jordan is a much better fit with Blake. Kaman should be the focus on the second unit. SF is our weak spot. I know Aminu is our future. but with the minutes he’s getting it’s gonna be a long process. who will we pick up in the draft? looks like we have a strong chance to get another #1 or at least a top three. what happened to Diogu? he was playing so good. but then so is Smith.

Am I the only one that says bench our best scorer in the last six minutes of the game? Gordon is great when he hits the three pointer. but most of the time it’s 3 turnovers for one 3 pointer. turnovers just kill our momentem at the end of the game everytime!

http://www.firedunleavy.com FD

Clippers gave away their draft pick. The only thing Jordon has going for him is that he’s friends with Blake Griffin. That’s the Clipper’s only motivation to pay him as much as other teams will pay him. Don’t expect much from the Clippers in the offseason. They’ve got a low pay roll and high ticket sales. Sterling is probably happier about this year than the year they made it to the 2nd round of the playoffs.

RAM

we have Minnasota’s pick.

http://www.firedunleavy.com FD

Thats next draft

RAM

oh! I guess that’s better considering how weak this draft is. but I don’t think Minn. can play that bad again. can they?

http://www.firedunleavy.com FD

Rubio might come over now.

AH

Minn could possibly be worse. Especially if Love decides he wants out.

Was a great moments in the game with the problems that we already know and I believe will be part of the summer plan, develop confidence on Aminu, control the speed on Bledsoe and learn to be patience and focus in the moment, find a good SF, and get the team that we need, I think that this part is probably done Rhino will be the PF back up, Bledsoe PG back up, Randy is good in his roll 3th PG like last night or back up Erick, Kman and DJ at the center base on the need of the game, Aminu back up of whoever (hope is a great player) the GM could catch for next season.
Difference from a Very good player to outstanding should be put that FT inside the rim, but Blake still a rookie and with the number that we is putting every game that outstanding performance will be soon just part of every day game for him.
I’m really want to start next season ASAP, NBA teams know that the Clippernation is rising.

Metal Matty

I hate teams that play lackadazical, then once they are comfortably behind, put a ton of effort into a comeback. That is a loosing mentality.

Given where we are at this stage of the year, it is not as much of a concern as it would be if this were earlier in the year.

At least these games are close at the end and we are able to get some experience and even finish a few of these.

I love this team. Bottom line, across the board…… we need to grow up. Coaches, Players…. everyone. We don’t have the mentality it is going to take and the good thing is…. I think we know that.

http://Lou Lou

FD
How old is DS, don’t you think he wants to win too. At the beginning of the season he said he did not know Gomez, unfortunetaly, he was right, the guy is a bench player.

http://www.firedunleavy.com FD

I’m not sure if DS wants to win now. I liked his comment that he didn’t know Gomez, but then why didn’t he hire a real GM. Before winning = more ticket sales, but that’s changed with Blake. They might even be a team 500 next year if they do nothing in the off season. Clippers had a Cavs backup starting last night.

Key stat of the game: Nazr Mohammed played 15 minutes, and scored 8 points on 4-5 shooting ( all against DeAndre Jordan) and had a +/- of +5. Jordan played 16 minutes and had a +/- of -7. Once again, Jordan held the gate open so the opposing no-name center could walk through it on his way to the hoop.

Kaman’s shooting is usually a little off on the second game of back to backs. The older and bigger the player, the more he seems to be effected by back to backs. Shaq and Duncan are two clear examples, others too. Still, except for his free throws, he played fairly well last night and had a +/- of +5.

I’m actually going to be surprised if any team offers Jordan a starters salary. It must be obvious to all teams by now that all he can do is jump and dunk. The best that could happen for the Clippers is that some team wants him, then the Clippers match the offer and trade him to that team for a first round pick.

DeFend DeAndre

Key stat of the game: DeAndre Jordan played 16 minutes, and scored 10 points on 3-3 shooting and 4-4 FT (all during the critical comeback stretch). Nazr Mohammed played 15 minutes, and had a +/- of +5 mostly benefitting from Clipper mistakes. Once again, Jordan easily held down the opposing no-name center, denying him any rebounds.

Kaman’s shooting was off on the second game of back to backs. The older and bigger the player, the more he seems to be effected by back to backs. Shaq and Duncan are two clear examples, others too. Because of this, he shot poor free throws, played badly last night and even though he had a +/- of +5, the 4 missed free throws and 7 missed jump shots cost us the game.

I’m actually not going to be surprised if any team offers Jordan a starters salary. It must be obvious to all teams by now that all he does is jump and dunk and play with energy. The worst that could happen for the Clippers is that some team wants him for too much, then the Clippers match the offer and trade him to that team for a first round pick.

AH

I think Nazr Mohammed getting his points is more about how bad the Clippers help defense is than Jordan individually. Mohammed also didn’t get any rebounds, but I see you ignored that and the fact that Jordan’s FTs and points came during the 2nd half comeback push. Nice cherry-picking.

Did you unintentionally reveal that Kaman should be traded because he’s getting older and performs poorly in back-to-backs? Shaq and Duncan are all-time greats. Kaman doesn’t even qualify as one-season great. You also neglected his crummy shot selection and glossed over his critical missed free throws. Nice cherry-picking. Still, Kaman had a reasonable game and I’m not hating on him.

I think the best plan moving forward is keeping the team intact. Hope Bledsoe improves over the summer and look to use Mo Williams in a trade to improve the team. Mo is decent, but he’s too much of a defensive liability going forward. I think a point-forward type SF is the way to go if we’re looking to add to the team. That way, Foye and Gordon can play the backcourt in crunch time and not worry about initiating the offense or ball-handling.

DeMote DeAndre

I agree that the Clippers may decide not to improve their roster in the off season and that they still might go .500 with this roster. Going into the second round of the playoffs might be an incentive. Mark Cuban said the other day that every home playoff game is worth two million dollars to him and that’s one reason he wants home court advantage.

I think it’s important they do two things in the off season:
1. not trade Kaman unless it’s part of a deal for Howard.
2. add one more quality player.

The Howard deal seems at least somewhat feasible. He likelly will not extend with Orlando and so they likely will trade him. His agents will want him in a big market like LA or NY. So there’s the Knicks, Nets, Lakers and Clippers. The Nets can’t trade anybody for him. The Lakers could trade Bynum, the Knicks could trade Stoudemire and the Clippers could trade Kaman. So far, not looking good. But the Clippers do have the Minnesota pick which could swing the deal. Kaman, the Minnesota pick, Aminu, the 2013 pick: that could do it.
For Howard, it would be worth it.

AH

DeMote/Dump I don’t know what to do with you. 90% of the time you make nonsensical remarks about specific players you don’t like for reasons you won’t explain, cherry-picking statistics to help your claim and completely ignoring their contributions and basically everyone else’s analyses.

And 10% of the time you say halfway reasonable things like this comment. I agree, the Clippers shouldn’t trade Kaman unless it’s for a 5-star, perennial all-star player. The Nets could trade a pick, Kris Humphries and Brook Lopez for Howard as most of the rumors have pointed out. And your suggestion for what to trade for Howard? Sounds a little steep.

Howard is a top flight talent, no doubt. But to give up a one-time All-Star center, possibly the #1 pick in a deep 2012 draft, the #8 pick in the 2010 draft and a 2013 1st round pick? Is the addition of Howard over the Kaman/Jordan platoon worth that much? People didn’t think Carmelo was worth that much to the Clippers and he filled the position we’re weakest at.

http://www.firedunleavy.com FD

Carmelo was never going to sign an extension with the Clippers and I don’t think Howard will either.

JaySee

Kaman for a 5-star player? HAHAHA! A team would have to be stupid to take that trade unless it’s packaged in with the Minn pick and something else like Aminu or Bledsoe. D12 for Kaman and the Minn pick, and Aminu sounds like a fair trade without the extra pick. Funny how DD is undervaluing Kaman and AH is overvaluing him.

AH

All I’m saying is that Howard probably isn’t worth Kaman + 3 1st round picks. And that I don’t think the Clippers should package Kaman in a deal unless it was for a top tier player. Frankly, I’d prefer we kept everything intact and see how it goes next season using Kaman and Jordan as a combo.

JaySee

If you prefer keeping Kaman, I’d call you a masochist unless you don’t want to pull out your hair when Kaman takes a bad shot, takes a shot instead of backing down a smaller defender, takes a shot when he has an open lane, or misses a layup he could have easily dunked.

Griffin

I though it was april fools day when u said howard wasn’t worth as much as kaman I think its the other way around. Wait I know its the other way around. Howard is a superstar center who makes the allstar team all the time. Kaman only when he’s playing like he should and not getting injuries. Injuries alone say howard is better than kaman. Yeah you must really hate howard or u have a man crush on kaman cuz there isn’t away clips will hang on to kaman if they can get there hands on dwight howard. They would ship kaman to a siberian prison if it meant getting howard plain and simple

AH

Just to clarify:

1. I’m not a fan of Kaman. He’s frustrating. He loses the ball around the basket. He takes shots away from Griffin/Gordon.

2. I don’t think he’s better than Howard. Not even close. But if you combine his stats with DeAndre Jordan stats, view them collectively as the Clippers center, it’s a little more respectable. I’m saying Kaman and Jordan together as a “platoon” would not be significantly worse than Howard. Maybe I’m wrong, but it’s giving a lot of respect to Howard to say it takes 2 players to even come close to Howard’s abilities.

3. In any trade I don’t want to have to give up everything under the sun to get a player. Doesn’t mean I don’t like Howard. Doesn’t mean I suddenly like Kaman. I’m just trying to figure out what the best possible deal we can make is that has a reasonable chance of actually happening. e.g. Instead of Howard for Kaman + 3 1st round picks, what about Howard for Kaman + 2 1st? Or possibly just the Kaman + Minny pick?

4. Thus, I’m in the weird situation of rooting for Kaman to do well to artificially inflate his trade value.

Griffin

Lol yeah new jersey could give lopez and humphries been then who wil dwight howard play with he would just have d will and no name players to play with. That won’t work. Howard most likely destination would be la I can only see howard playing for either the clippers or lakers not new jersey they give up there core and howard would not sign a 3 year extension to the nets and nets wouldn’t give up lopez and humphries for dwight for a year and then not have both howard and willaims. They would be a losing franchise for a good 5 years too risky of a deal for the nets.

Bongstradamus

Greg Monroe is the center we should target. Hes a 5 stat guy with massive upside that plays D and knows how to pass out of a double. I think hes the 3rd best rookie this season, he’s posted better numbers than Blake since the All-Star break.

We should trade Kaman to Detroit for Rip and Monroe. Detroit is motivated to move Rips contract and hes the perfect GF to cover 2 and 3. His contract is big, and its for quite a few years, but it would bring championship experience, clutch shooting and great defense on the wing. Kaman would be closer to home, it would give Detroit cap space in another season and we’d get a leader who knows how to be a team player.

As I’ve said time and time again, we need to trade into talent. Depending on a miracle in free agency is not something that goes well for us.

AH

This idea has promise, but would Detroit part with Monroe even if it meant getting rid of Rip’s contract? We’d also have to move Foye because of the logjam we’d have in that off-guard slot.

I feel like Bledsoe is the key to all of this. If he can develop enough in the summer to inspire confidence next year we can move Mo to steady the minutes for the guard rotation.

That last bit is dumb I guess though. If Bledsoe and Aminu developed enough the Clips wouldn’t have to trade anyone…

Griffin

This idea seems like a safe plan but this is business and u want to go for the big fish and hope of snaging it. Listen clip nation we are no longer the laughing stock of the nba thanks to one man blake griffin. Now u seen how blake plays could dwight howard pass up an opportunity to be in legendary history to form the best front court ever. We would insteantly be leading the league in rebounding and most teams wouldn’t get a rebound. We are changing the culture so don’t take the safe road no more we aren’t the same team anymore. We have a lot of things going for us to make a deal for howard kaman possible dj and minnies pick. Sounds good for orlando. We also have big market and the best front court ever that can diffently win u a championship and not to mention we have enough cap space to get deron willaims in 2012 who has stated he cnat wait to play with blake griffin. Sound good it is good. Dwight will think twice about it espicially if hid agent tells him clippers a team on the rise a team that’s in a big market u could make history u could be a legend in clipper and nba history forvever if u help them win champioships for a long time cuz there really young also u get to play with blake. Yes clip nation let’s not sell oursleves short cuz now we have blake howard can u resist blake griffin and the clippers on the rise or become a part of it. Let’s say sell out every night we play awesome the possiblity is endless.. the lakers old phil is quitting and has nothing going for them

Griffin

The clippers have the best opportunity to get howard and has howards best interest because we are young and have a superstar and lakers would have the upper hand but won’t becuz kobe is getting older, phil jackson doesn’t want to caoch anymore and howard could single handly say this isn’t lakers town no more this is clips town and in an instant the lakers would be the b team hahahahahahah muhahahahaha come howard come to the clippers

Russell Clips fan

DUDE…WE DONT WANNA DRAFT A FREAKIN SF…WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT..SERIOUSLY..WHYYYYYYYYY!?!?!?!?!? THE ONLY GOOD THING IF WE DID HAVE A PICK THIS YEAR…IS TO TRADE IT TO A TEAM WHERE WE GET A VETERAN SF…PRINCE, IGOUDALA, ETC. ANOTHER 20YR OLD KID…RIGHT ALONG AMINU..ARE YOU DUMB

Clips4

we’d be stuck with baron’s horrible contract

joeluis

Adding some key pieces will be essential, but as it is, The team is good for .500 ball for next season. anything under will be failure. I believe that other players are paying attention and they would want to play with Blake regardless of DTS. I know we’ll get more talent because of blake i just hope VDN and Co. can make the team work. (im still not too sure if VDN is the right coach for coming up seasons. Great for this one season though). Also lets not forget, We got mini pick on the near future and all this new raw talent , im sure we can make a good trade. C’mon Olshey make it happen. (howard, D-Will, or even Iguadala)

Metal Matty

Guys the size of Kaman play a long time in this league and his addition of a bona-fide jump shot ensures that is the case with him (assuming health which is the case for ANY player).

As much as Dump Davis/DeMote DeAndre pisses us off, he makes a valid point regarding garbage centers magically looking like 20+ppg scorers this year when facing DJ.

We have a bird in the hand with Blake. I don’t think this is the time to be chasing POTENTIAL at center. We need to secure another bird in the hand which is Kaman. Yes, it was an off year for him due to injury but he just came off a GREAT year, his best ever. So I don’t see the call for panic.

I don’t mind re-signing DeAndre. I just am not willing to jettison Kaman and replace him with DeAndre. That is senseless risk. An energy Big is not difficult to replace. A skilled, multi-faceted 20pt scorer who can play inside and out, rebound and provide solid D from the center position we have had ONE TIME in Clipper history. That mans name is Chris Kaman. So I question how easy it is to replace that.

Metal Matty

I’ll be honest. When DeAndre went on a reign of terror defensively blocking shots earlier in the year, I would have entertained the switch. But remarkably, all the talk of the game slowing down for him and his improvement making reads etc on defense proved to be fools gold. He has been average at best the last month or so on D. Unacceptable considering his skill set. I don’t understand what happened to him.

Griffin

I don’t care but kaman is not the answer at center. His mind set is that of a pg who is 6 2 and like to pump fake and not take guys one on one in the low post. But I’m not syaing dump kaman either. If we can’t get howard in a trade or in 2012 yes dump him but other wise keep him. He can play good don’t get me wrong I just prefer the best front court ever. I like when kaman when he was getting those 20 20 games but he might not be there anymore. And if we can’t get howard we can resign kaman no problem cuz he doesn’t want to play nowhere else. He states “if I can I like to stay in la for and retire here. So no question of getting kaman to resign but if we can get dwight howard by kaman

Bongstradamus

Kaman has never averaged 20ppg. He only averaged 18.5 on 20 attempts per game and that was last season as the primary offensive option.

Kaman doesnt work for us because he requires touches that are better served going to Blake and EJ.

Thats just the reality. He also generates more turnovers than a rookie point guard. So Kaman with only 8-10 touches a game is probably worth 10points and 10 boards on 25+ mins a game. Unless you can feed him the ball like last season he wont come near 20 ppg. That wont be happening if theres a healthy Blake at the 4.